Crisis and Leviathan

(25th Anniversary Edition) Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government
Everyone knows that the U.S. government has grown in size, scope, and power during the past century, but how did this breathtaking transformation come about? Crisis and Leviathan offers a coherent, multi-causal explanation, guided by a novel analytical framework firmly grounded in historical evidence.

Description

This seminal treatise in the history of ideas demonstrates what has come to be known as the Higgs thesis: that government grows in periods of crisis, for example, war and depression. He demonstrates this with a detailed look at twentieth century economic history.

Higgs's thesis is so compelling that it has become the dominant paradigm for understanding the so-called ratchet effect: government grows during crisis and then retrenches afterwards, but not to the same level as before.

This book is absolutely essential for anyone who seeks to understand the dynamics of government growth and the loss of liberty. The contents of this volume include:

“Crisis and Leviathan is a blockbuster of a book, one of the most important of the last decade. It is that rare and wondrous combination: scholarly and hard-hitting, lucidly written and libertarian as well. “—Murray N. Rothbard, late S.J. Hall Distinguished Professor of Economics, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

“Insightful, compelling, and clear, Higgs breaks new ground in explicating the most important socio-political trend of our time—the growth of American government.”—The Freeman